Adjustable storage rack



'Dec. '26, 1967 'w.H. NOVALES 3,360,137

ADJUSTABLE STORAGE RACK Filed Jan. 14, 1966 i" if FIE--3- 38 38 INVENTOR. 12 H2 WILL/AM H. NOVAL'ES F I 5-. a 56 ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,360,137 ADJUSTABLE STORAGE RACK William H. Novales, P.O. Box 8364,

Oakland, Calif. 94608 Filed Jan. 14, 1966, Ser. No. 520,688 2 Claims. (Cl. 211-175) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An adjustable storage rack having upper and lower beam structures with vertical members extending between the upper and lower beams, said vertical members having resilient members whereby they can be positioned at any place along the beams and shelf members extending between the vertical members to provide storage racks.

This invention relates in general to a storage rack, and more particularly to a rack having adjustability features not heretofore seen in racks of this type which are designed to accommodate packages or articles of various shapes and sizes.

Many varieties of adjustable storage racks are available for industrial use. They' all seek maximum flexibility so that storage space may be most effectively utilized and, more particularly, so that the storage rack can be adjusted in capacity and shape to the inventory. To this end, most racks are provided with plurality of holes along the beams (which are the horizontal members) so that the upright posts can be spaced at various intervals as desired. When these racks are assembled, a certain amount of searching along the length of the beams to permit the posts to be bolted or otherwise secured in place may be required and, furthermore, an arrangement employing a plurality of holes necessarily requires that the posts be placed at predetermined intervals resulting in the waste of some small amount of space unless the items being stored fit precisely between the posts. Since the rack is seldom tailored precisely to the size of the articles constituting the inventory, some space wastage is common. Important also is the fact that most industrial concerns have a supply of steel shelves and/ or plywood to which it may be desired to adjust the space between the posts. Plywood, of course, may be cut to the required width but steel shelving must be used as is. Furthermore, should an error be made in cutting the plywood, the cut pieces must often be discarded since it may not be possible to adjust the space between the posts to accommodate the widths resulting.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an industrial storage rack of the type utilizing upright posts and horizontal beams which rack permits infinite adjustability of the space between the upright posts.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a rack of the aforementioned type which is adjustable in a fashion permitting one to utilize steel shelving not necessarily designed for the rack and which will also permit the use of plywood shelving which may be of non-standard widths.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an industrial storage rack which may be erected in minimal time and once erected is of sturdy construction.

Another object of this invention is to provide a structure of the aforementioned type which does not require the use of nuts or bolts in connecting the horizontal beams on the upright posts thereby to facilitate erection and disassembly.

In the drawings forming part of this application:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the storage rack of the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged elevation through the line 22 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged perspective view showing the 3,360,137 Patented Dec. 26, 1967 upper corner of one of the upright posts and the method for supporting the shelves thereon.

Generally, this invention comprises an arrangement for use as a storage rack provided with a plurality of front openings which openings are infinitely adjustable to permit insertion and withdrawal of merchandise units of various dimensions while eliminating loss of storage capacity which arrangement comprises a pair of parallel upper and lower elongated beams positioned in superimposed spaced relation, a plurality of movable, commonly vertical posts extended between said beams, the beams each having a flange or keeper extending a short distance in the same plane as the face of the beam, the posts being provided at one end with a resilient member intended to engage one of the beams, one of said beams normally being positioned relative to one another so that the posts bearing the resilient members must be forced between the beams with consequent compression of the resilient member therebetween.

Referring now to the drawings wherein like characters refer to like parts throughout, there is shown in FIGURE 1 a self-supporting structure comprising a pair of horizontal upper beams 10 and a pair of horizontal lower beams 12 which are maintained in a spaced relationship by means of upright channels 14. These channels may be secured to the upper and lower beams in any conventional manner which means does not form a part of this invention. The upright channels are braced at 16 and 18, and cross members 20 tie the uppermost beams together so that a top of the rack may be used as a pallet storage means.

As seen in FIGURE 2, beams 10 may be of conventional channel construction but differ somewhat therefrom in that a flange 22 is welded at 24 longitudinally thereof coplanar with the front face of the upper beam and immediately therebeneath and also coplanar with the front face of the lower beam and immediately thereabove. These flanges or keepers 22 are intended to prevent the upright posts 26 from falling outwardly from the center of the structure, as depicted in FIGURE 2. Posts may be of T cross section or of the beaded type, as shown in FIGURE 3. Each post is punched with a plurality of spaced rectilinear, square or round holes 28. The beaded posts shown are the type manufactured by Worley & Co., Whittier, Calif., and utilize a shelving clip 30 which is of conventional construction and which does not constitute a portion of this invention. T posts may also be used with the top modified to accommodate the double diameter spring 42. As an alternative arrangement, the upright posts may have support brackets of the type shown in the Konstant et al. Patent 3,102,641. In any case, the clip or other arrangement assists in supporting horizontal crosspieces 32 upon which the shelving 34 may be rested.

As will be seen in FIGURE 2, the upright posts 26 of this invention are not provided with means for bolting them in place or otherwise securing them prior to the time that the shelving 34 is inserted. Also, there are no pins or similar means of fixedly securing the upright posts in place. Rather, the lowermost surfaces of the posts merely rest upon the uppermost flanges 38 of lower beams 12 and may be slid longitudinally, as desired. Since the space between the beams 10 and 12 is fixed by means of the permanently secured uprights 14, and since the lengths of the posts 26 are designed to just barely fit between lower flanges 38 and upper flanges of the upper horizontal beams 40, it will be understood that the post will just barely slide into place bteween the flanges 38 and 40 when the posts are upright. However, there is also provided, as shown in FIGURE 3, a resilient member which may be of an elastomeric material or, as shown, a spring 42 which, when fully extended, consumes a space slightly in excess of that remaining between the top of each post 26 and flange 40. As the post is swung into place in the fashion shown in the phantom view of FIGURE 1, a spring will contact the lowermost surface of flange 4t) and it will be necessary to apply some force to cause the posts 26 to assume an upright position.

The first step in erecting a structure is to assemble horizontal beams 10, 12 and the upright members 14 together with such tying and bracing members 16, 18 and 20 as may be required. Members 16, 18 and 20 may be of various lengths so as to provide storage space of various depths. Thereafter the posts 26 are first rested, one by one, upon a lowermost flange 38 and swung into an upright position as shown in FIGURE 1. When the spring contacts the flange 40, a certain amount of pressure must be applied so that theposts can be fixed in an upright orientation. The post is held against falling outwardly by means of flange 22 but is held rather insecurely in place at this time. The various other posts are inserted in the same fashion. Thereafter the clips 30 are applied together with the crosspieces 32. The shelving is then laid on top of the crosspieces and the posts adjusted to fit adjacent to the edges of the shelving. It will be seen that should the shelving be of non-standard size, through error in cutting plywood or simply because the shelving is utilized from an older rack, the posts may nevertheless be positioned to accommodate these shelves. Further, where the inventory is in the form of cartons or other objects of predetermined size, plywood shelving may be cut to fit the cartons, etc., and the posts adjusted then to fit both the shelving and the inventory with resulting minimum space wastage. When the shelving is in place, as shown in FIG- URE 1, it will be seen that the posts can neither fall inwardly nor to the side. The preferred resilient means on top of each post 26 is the spring 42 shown which is of two diameters, the lesser diametered end permits the spring to be recessed and held in the top of a standard beaded post while the larger diameter is such that this portion rests on top of the post, as shown in FIGURE 3. Obviously, many modifications and variations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention and therefore only such limitations should be imposed as are indicated in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An arrangement for use as a storage rack with a plurality of front openings which are adjustable to permit insertion or withdrawal of merchandise units of diflerent dimensions while preventing loss of storage capacity, which comprises:

(a) a pair of upper and lower elongated beams positioned in superimposed spaced relationship and held in such relationship by end frame structures;

(b) each of said beams having a horizontal surface and a vertical flange, said upper beams having said flanges on the outside thereof extending downwardly and said lower beams having said flanges on the outside thereof extending upwardly;

(c) a plurality of movable, normally vertical posts extending between the horizontal surfaces of said beams and being prevented from movement outwardly by said flanges;

(d) shelf supports extending between a mating front and back vertical post and preventing movement of said vertical posts toward each other;

(e) a resilient member on one end of each of said posts, said resilient members engaging one of said beams when said post is in an upright position between the said beams.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein the said resilient means is a compressible metal spring.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,896,794 7/1959 Jarvis 108-109 2,903,227 9/1959 Key 248-356 3,102,641 9/1963 Konstant et al. 211l48 3,221,894 12/1965 Knuth 211134 FOREIGN PATENTS 303,986 3/1955 Switzerland.

ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner.

W. D. LOULAN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. AN ARRANGEMENT FOR USE AS A STORAGE RACK WITH A PLURALITY OF FRONT OPENING WHICH ARE ADJUSTABLE TO PERMIT INSERTION OR WITHDRAWAL OF MERCHANDISE UNITS OF DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS WHILE PREVENTING LOSS OF STORAGE CAPACITY, WHICH COMPRISES: (A) A PAIR OF UPPER AND LOWER ELONGATED BEAMS POSITIONED IN SUPERIMPOSED SPACED RELATIONSHIP AND HELD IN SUCH RELATIONSHIP BY END FRAME STRUCTURES; (B) EACH OF SAID BEAMS HAVING A HORIZONTAL SURFACE AND A VERTICAL FLANGE, SAID UPPER BEAMS HAVING SAID FLANGES ON THE OUTSIDE THEREOF EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY AND SAID LOWER BEAMS HAVING SAID FLANGES ON THE OUTSIDE THEREOF EXTENDING UPWARDLY; 